LIVE UK is the only publication dedicated to the country’s contemporary live music business, providing news, features, tour plans and information to the people that drive the industry – promoters, festival organisers, venue operators, artiste managers, booking agents, ticketing companies, media and key professionals in dozens of related sectors.View digital magazine here.

festival is an annual planning-season supplement of LIVE UK, published in December, January, February and March – when the bulk of festival production deals are concluded – providing news, features, information and events data for the business people behind festivals. From April to October, it becomes a two-page section within LIVE UK.

Sister publication to LIVE UK, AUDIENCE is the world's leading monthly magazine for the international contemporary live music industry, providing news, features and information to professionals in more than 78 countries worldwide. Circulation includes thousands of promoters, festival organisers, venue operators and key people in dozens of related sectors..

NEWS FROM THE CURRENT ISSUE

ISSUE 211, August 2017

Thousands of ticket-holders in limbo after promoter goes bust

THOUSANDS OF people have been left chasing ticket refunds after the promoter behind two Olly Murs shows ceased trading.

Dorset-based Stephen C Associates (SCA), run by Stephen McManus, was due to stage concerts with the artiste at Exeter’s Powderham Castle on 29 July and at Bournemouth’s King’s Park (cap. 10,000) on 5 August, along with a show by Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra at Powderham on 30 July.

THE ORGANISER behind Hope and Glory festival (cap. 12,500) has admitted his career in live music is probably over after the event descended into chaos, causing the final day to be cancelled.

The event licence for the 5-6 August festival, held in Liverpool’s St George’s Square, was granted to Hope and Glory Festival Ltd, with organiser Lee O’Hanlon of promoter tinyCOW and Lichfield-based businessman Iain Kerr as its directors.

A £200 MILLION project to replace Newcastle’s Metro Radio Arena (cap. 11,250) with a new venue in Gateshead has been revealed.

Gateshead Council is behind the plans and is working with property developers Ask Real Estate and investment manager Patrizia UK, along with venue operator SMG Europe to create a 12,500-capacity arena on a 10-acre site in Gateshead Quays.

THE ENTIRE grassroots venue sector is likely to suffer following the Arts Council England (ACE) decision not to grant the Music Venue Trust (MVT) further funding, claims MVT strategic director Beverley Whitrick.

The registered charity, which aims to ‘preserve, improve and protect grassroots venues’, submitted three applications to ACE for further funding rounds, but all were rejected.

PROPOSALS TO transform a derelict cinema in London borough Dalston into the Hackney Arts Centre, including a 1,200-capacity live music venue, have been approved.

Auro Foxcroft, owner of the Village Underground (cap. 400) in Shoreditch, is behind a £3 million plan for the former Savoy cinema, which will see the stalls host concerts, the balcony become a theatre space and an adjacent snooker hall turned into a bar and restaurant. The Arts Impact Fund is putting £600,000 towards the project.

ST MARY’S Stadium in Southampton is once again open for concert business more than a decade after putting on shows with Elton John and Bon Jovi.

Home to Southampton Football Club, the venue staged Robbie Williams Heavy Entertainment Show on 6 June, co-promoted my Live Nation Entertainment and its Metropolis Music division, with a 32,000-capacity crowd and is looking for more of the same.

THE HUGE response from LIVE UK readers and the wider music industry to the nominee submissions process for this year’s Live Music Business Awards (LMBAs) has led to organisers creating another category.

Best Festival: Multi-Venue will cover any city/town centre music event that uses more than two venues, with festivals that meet that description switched over from the other three festival award categories, tiered by capacity.

THE DUBIOUS practices of secondary ticketing site Viagogo have once again drawn the ire of customers, resulting in the company featuring on BBC 1’s Watchdog for at least a second time.

The investigative programme featured the Switzerland-registered resale platform after a spike in complaints, particularly over Viagogo’s booking fee, which in one case saw a customer pay £500 in administrative costs as part of an overall bill of £1,700 for tickets to see Tom Jones.

Watchdog used Kaiser Chiefs frontman Ricky Wilson to show viewers how the sites customers were being pressured to book tickets quickly, by simulated queues, countdown clocks and warnings to buy.

MULTI-VENUE owner Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG) has won the contract to run Swansea’s new 3,500-capacity multi-use entertainment space.

ATG, which operates 46 theatres across the UK, US and Australia, was selected to operate the Swansea Digital Arena on the former St David’s shopping centre site, following discussions between Swansea Council, development management firm Rivington Land and arena consultant IPW.

A COMBINATION of declining provision of music in schools and reports that many grassroots venues are closing, is putting the UK music industry at risk, according to UK Music chief executive Michael Dugher.

The recently appointed head of the industry’s umbrella group believes the £4.1 billion the UK Music report Wish You Were Here (see LIVE UK issue 210) calculates was generated by live music last year could be affected.

A VERSITILE approach, premium seating and an intimate atmosphere has helped The Regal Cinema in Evesham surpass expectations in hosting live music.

Built in 1932 as an Art Deco theatre the venue eventually became dilapidated and closed in the early 2000s. A project to restore the building began in 2009 and The Regal reopened with a 700 standing and 493 seated capacity in 2012, under the stewardship of father and son team Ian and Laurence Wiper.

MUSIC CHARITY Attitude is Everything (AIE), which campaigns for better access to live music events for deaf and disabled people, has been awarded £998,800 in funding over the next four years from Arts Council England (ACE).

The investment will allow AIE to further provide guidance, training and consultancy on enhanced access.

MORE CONFERENCE sessions have been announced for the LIVE UK Summit, set for Thursday 12 October at the Radisson Blu Portman hotel in London’s West End,

Old favourite Masters of the Universe, featuring international agents relating tales of theirs and their artistes’ exploits around the world, returns, along with Stairways To Heaven, focussing on the grassroots live sector, and The Social Network, exploring the increasing breadth of social media marketing.